


Special

by Queen_Of_The_French_Fries



Series: Special [1]
Category: SCP Foundation
Genre: Being Ethan Is Suffering, Birthday, Capybaras, Delayed reactions to pain, Denial, Electricity, F/M, Protective Siblings, The first chapter is huge because it was originally a oneshot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-06-24 08:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Of_The_French_Fries/pseuds/Queen_Of_The_French_Fries
Summary: A girl with a power most wouldn’t consider a blessing.A neighbor who’s not all that he seems.An older brother who lives in denial.A series of stories that follows three central characters and their lives in the SCP universe.





	1. Riley Is Nothing Special

Riley Williams was nothing special.

* * *

Currently, Riley sat on her bed playing video games, only pausing to close the window, as the breeze of a Friday night in early April had overstayed its welcome. It was then that she heard the front door opening from outside her room, as it was just across the hall. Immediately, she ran around her bed and across the room to open the door only for it to slam into her face when it was opened on the other side, knocking her to the floor.

“Riley! Oh my gosh, are you okay!? I’m so so sorry!” Riley looked up to see her guardian and older half brother, Ethan, remain frozen in shock for a few seconds before helping her up. Riley awkwardly laughed in response to her brother’s concern.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Didn’t feel a thing.” Riley said before Ethan sighed in relief and ruffled Riley’s short blonde hair.

“That’s a relief. Anyways, sorry I’m back so late, things got kind of wild at work and then traffic was a monster.” Ethan said.

“Could you tell me about what was so wild at work?” Riley asked.

“No.” Ethan said, causing Riley’s expression to immediately go from excitement to disappointment.

“No fair. I just want to know more about your job. Or at the very least know what you do. I won’t tell anyone if you experiment on aliens or anything! So please tell me!” Riley begged. Ethan went silent for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

“Very funny, Riley. Tell you what, I’ll tell you more about my job when you can reach the top shelf. Without a chair.” Ethan said before he began to walk away.

“I’m not short, you’re just super tall!” Riley yelled.

“Go to bed.” She heard Ethan say as he went upstairs to his room. Riley mimicked her brother’s words in a childish voice before shutting the door. She went to shut down the game she was playing, only to feel a sudden pain in her nose. She put her hand to her face and her eyes widened in shock when she pulled it away to reveal blood on two of her fingers. Riley ran out of her room, and went down the hall to the bathroom. She turned on the lights, looked in the mirror, and confirmed that her nose was in fact bleeding.

“What the hell?” Riley whispered to herself. She tilted her head up and pinched her nose. After five minutes, she checked and confirmed that the bleeding had stopped before wiping her nose and returning to her room.

* * *

By the time the morning had come, Riley had completely forgotten about her seemingly random nosebleed when she was awoken by the sound of Ethan knocking on the door. He opened the door as Riley groggily sat up and wiped some drool off her cheek.

“Morning, sleepyhead. Just wanted to tell you that Hibiki’s at the door.” Ethan said before closing the door. Suddenly filled with energy, Riley ran out of her room and opened the front door.

“Did I come too early?” Asked Riley’s neighbor and close friend, Hibiki, upon seeing she was still in her pajamas. Riley looked down and realized this, along with the fact that her hair was incredibly messy.

“Nope! Not at all! What brings you to my humble abode?” Riley asked as she tried to sound casual, but still found herself looking down at Hibiki’s Pikachu shirt as opposed to making eye contact. Hibiki snickered and held up a fancy looking phone.

“Well, my parents got me a new phone for my birthday and I kind of need to borrow yours so I can put your number in mine.” Hibiki said.

“Isn’t your birthday next week?” Riley asked.

“Yes, but my family and I are busy that day.” Hibiki explained.

“I see. Anyways! I’ll get my phone now!” Riley said before running back to her room. She grabbed her phone, took a moment to curse herself for forgetting to plug it in the previous night, and went back to hand it to Hibiki. He entered her number into his phone and vice versa before handing it back.

“Alright. Thanks.” Hibiki said. He began to walk across the street to his house when Riley suddenly took a deep breath and grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait! I was thinking that since you’ll be busy on your actual birthday, would you like to go out and celebrate it with me tonight? I don’t mean to go out in the sense of a date of course! Why would we go on a date? We’ve only known each other since you moved here which was, what, twelve years ago? Clearly we don’t know each other well enough to go on a date!” Riley said while fidgeting with her fingers. Hibiki smiled and laughed.

“Sure, I’d love to. Just not in your pajamas.” Hibiki said. He then went on his way as Riley excitedly ran back into the house, nearly forgetting to close the door behind her.

After eating breakfast and getting dressed, Riley began texting Hibiki so they could go over the details of their not-date together, when she noticed something odd. When she handed her phone to Hibiki its batter was in its thirties. Now, just as she was about to plug it into its charger, the battery was in its nineties. She shrugged. Maybe she just imagined the battery being low because she was still tired. She completely forgot about it as she resumed her conversation with Hibiki.

* * *

That night, Hibiki showed up as he promised. After exchanging some typical “don’t stay out too late” and “don’t get too handsy with my little sister” talk with Ethan, Riley and Hibiki went to see a movie before heading to the river at the park where they usually hung out.

“How’d you like the movie?” Asked Hibiki. Riley shrugged.

“It was okay, I guess. I liked how the two lovers were on opposing sides but never really realized it. Wonder what would’ve happened if they found out.” Riley said while messing with the edges of her grey beanie. Hibiki went silent for a moment before sighing.

“Yeah. I wonder.” Hibiki said before picking up a small rock and throwing it into the river.

“Are you okay?” Riley asked.

“Yeah. Just thinking.” Hibiki replied. Riley scooted closer to her friend.

“About what?” She prodded further.

“Could you imagine it? Having a secret that you’d gladly share but deep down you just feel like you… shouldn’t.” Hibiki held his legs against his chest as he spoke. Riley looked at him in concern before patting him on the shoulder.

“If you’ve got something you want to tell me, you can tell me, alright? It won’t affect how I feel about you if that’s what you’re worried about.” She reassured him. He looked at her for a few moments before suddenly pulling her into a hug, making her shriek in surprise.

“No, no. I’m okay. Thank you anyways.” Hibiki said before planting a kiss on Riley’s forehead. Riley struggled her way out of the hug as she felt her heart pound at a speed she wasn’t even aware was humanly possible.

“Did you-!? Are we even-!? Huh!? What!?” Riley struggled to form her thoughts into a cohesive sentence as Hibiki just laughed in response.

“Yes, I did. Only if you want us to be. Don’t really know what you’re trying to say with the last one.” Hibiki said as he got up. Riley quickly got up as well.

“Yeah! I want us to be… you know!” Riley exclaimed.

Upon noticing that it was getting late, the two made their way home. As they were saying their goodbyes before they would return to their houses, they were suddenly bathed in a bright light and the sound of a car horn muted what they were saying. While Hibiki was able to get out of the way, Riley suddenly felt an electric shock go down her spine, which caused her to freeze just long enough for the car to send her flying.

“Are you alright!?” Hibiki yelled as he helped her up. Riley took a moment to examine herself before nodding.

“Yeah! I’m okay!” Riley said. Hibiki quickly went over and stopped the driver of the vehicle from calling an ambulance. After double checking that Riley wasn’t hurt, the driver went on his way, leaving the new couple with a warning to be more careful.

“Let’s not tell anyone about this. Pretty sure both Ethan and your parents will never let us go outside again if they find out about this.” Riley said, knowing both her brother and Hibiki’s parents were asleep as the lights in both their houses were off. Hibiki slowly nodded before they parted ways.

After that, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Riley and Hibiki kept the accident a secret, but even then, it faded from their memories and it was like it never happened. Life went back to normal.

* * *

A month later, Ethan was getting ready for work when he suddenly heard an ear piercing scream from Riley’s room. He ran downstairs and swung her door open and was met with the sight of his little sister on her bedroom floor, clutching a broken arm as she cried in pain.

“WHAT HAPPENED!?” Ethan yelled.

“I-I DON’T KNOW! JUST PLEASE HELP ME!” Riley cried. Ethan immediately went to the kitchen and called the hospital before calling Riley in sick to school and himself in sick to work. He cursed himself, knowing he’d be on thin ice for the way he worded things in the last phone call, but Riley was more important. He had seen many disturbing things, but his sister in pain was the worst of them.

“It’s okay… it’s okay…” Ethan attempted to comfort Riley before the paramedics came, and continued to do so as he rode in the ambulance with her. After spending the day getting questioned by doctors and having a cast put on her, Riley and Ethan returned home, both feeling rather somber.

“Riley!” Riley looked over to see Hibiki running over from across the street. He stopped once he was right in front of her and examined her cast.

“I heard you broke your arm. What happened?” Hibiki asked.

“I don’t know. It just… broke.” Riley said. Hibiki held up a light blue marker.

“May I have the honors?” Hibiki asked. Riley nodded before Hibiki wrote his name on her cast and drew a small lightning bolt next to it. Riley smiled at her boyfriend.

“Thanks.” She said as she hugged him with her good arm. Hibiki patted her on the back before going home, Riley going inside shortly after, when she was pulled into another hug by Ethan.

“Listen… I just want you to know that no matter what happens, no matter what anyone does to you, no matter what they say, you’ll always be my sister. Understand?” Ethan said. Riley slowly nodded.

“Uh… okay…?” Riley replied.

For the very first time, Riley saw her brother break down in tears.

* * *

“Hey. Williams. You mind letting me pass?” Ethan snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to see none other than Jack Bright standing behind him. He quickly stepped out of the way and made room for him to pass.

“My apologies.” Ethan muttered. Jack took a few stops before he suddenly stopped once he was right next to Ethan.

“Oh yeah. Your sister. Heard her arm snapped in half or something. How is she?” Jack asked.

“Since when did you care about my personal life?” Asked Ethan, trying to ignore Jack’s absurd way of describing a broken arm. Jack shrugged.

“I don’t know. Just asking.” Jack said. Ethan sighed.

“She’s fine. Nothing _too_ bad.” Ethan said.

After all, Riley Williams was nothing special. At least thinking that allowed Ethan to sleep at night.


	2. Riley’s Special Day

Riley woke up to the sun shining on her face. She had forgotten to shut her blinds the previous night. She sat up, yawned, and took a few seconds to remember what day it was. She was suddenly wide awake upon remembering. It was her birthday. She jumped out of bed and ran out of her room, going straight for the kitchen. She expected to see Ethan standing at the table, where he’d sing an admittedly kind of annoying song that he wrote himself while clapping his hands, because he wanted her to feel unique. Instead, there was just a plate with three slices of bacon and a bagel on it, with a note next to it. She picked it up.

“Riley, I’m sorry that I can’t spend your birthday with you, but you know… work and all. Your present is upstairs in the guest room. You’re a teenager now so I really hope I can trust you with a responsibility this big. Also, I went through hell and back to get these so be grateful. From, Ethan. PS, don’t let them out of the room yet, I’m not done covering all the wires.” Riley read the note aloud before hearing a thump upstairs. She headed up the stairs before stopping at the far left of the hallway. She stood at the guest room door. She didn’t understand why the guest room was on the second floor and her room was on the first, but Ethan wasn’t one for explaining things to her. Riley let out a deep breath and opened the door. Her eyes widened and she let out a gasp at the sight before her.

Riley had expected a puppy or a kitten. Instead, what she saw was a baby capybara sitting in a blue plastic kiddie pool with several towels under it in the center of the room, and another one eating out of a bowl that contained various vegetables. Riley closed the door and ran downstairs to call Hibiki. However, just as she was about to touch the phone, she came to a realization.

“I HAVEN’T SHOWERED!”

“Hey, come to my house.” Riley ran a hand through her wet hair.

“Why?” Hibiki sounded groggy, as though he had just woken up.

“Because it’s my birthday and I’m your best friend, meaning you legally have to do whatever I say today.”

“I don’t think that’s how birthdays work.”

“Of course that’s how they work. Now get over here.”

“Alright…”

Thirty minutes later, Hibiki arrived at Riley’s house, to which she grabbed him and dragged him up the stairs to the guest room before he could even say “happy birthday.” 

“CHECK IT OUT!” Hibiki had to cover his ears as Riley felt the need to yell despite being right next to him as she swung the door open. He looked in the room, and was taken aback. Of all the things he was expecting, it certainly wasn’t this.

“Capybaras…?” Hibiki asked as he was pulled into the room. Riley nodded while shutting the door behind her. 

“Yeah! They’re my birthday gift from Ethan!” Riley excitedly jumped up and down as she spoke. Hibiki laughed.

“Well, now my gift looks pretty dumb in comparison.” Hibiki awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Nonsense! Give it to me!” She stopped jumping, instead grabbing his wrist with both her hands and shaking it. 

“Alright, but close your eyes. And let go.” Riley immediately followed Hibiki’s instructions, closing her eyes as tightly as she could. This didn’t last long though, as she felt something slip onto her head. She ran to a mirror that Ethan hadn’t removed when refurbishing it for the capybaras, mostly because it was built into the wall, and saw a light grey beanie now covering her barely shoulder length blonde hair. She immediately looked back at Hibiki and gave him a dual thumbs up, a large smile across her face.

“I love it! I promise I’ll always wear it!” Riley said. Hibiki smiled and said he was glad she liked it. This made Riley blush. Wait, what? Why would Hibiki make her blush? They’ve been friends for… what, ten years, and she hasn’t blushed around him until now. She almost freaked out when his face grimaced in disgust. Until she noticed the smell.

“You should probably get to potty training them… I’ll be in the living room…” Hibiki shut the door behind him and Riley let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t suddenly find her gross. Then she quickly remembered the smell and was disgusted again.

After cleaning up that (literal) mess, Riley and Hibiki spent the afternoon watching Riley’s favorite movies, playing Riley’s favorite video games, and ordering a pizza. Later that night, when Ethan came home with a cake, he noticed something different about her.

“New hat?” Riley snapped out of her train of thought and adjusted her new beanie. 

“Yep.” Riley said before stuffing her face with cake.

“How about your new friends?” Ethan asked.

“I love them! I named the boy Rudy and the girl Nina!” Dark brown crumbs fell out of Riley’s mouth, to which Ethan gestured for her to chew with her mouth closed. She instantly shut her mouth as Ethan slid something across the table. It was small, rectangular, and wrapped up in light blue wrapping paper.

“I got you another present. Forgot to leave it for you this morning. Sorry.” Ethan explained. Riley unwrapped it and almost choked at what she saw.

“My own phone!?” Riley exclaimed. Ethan nodded.

“Yeah. I figured if I can trust you with a pair of pets, I can trust you with a phone.” Ethan replied. Riley ran around the table and hugged her half brother.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!” Riley said as Ethan gladly returned the hug. Seeing her happy made him happy. 

And that’s why he gets out of bed in the morning, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My weird as shit brain was like “give Riley capybaras” so I whipped this short little thing up as a sort of “breather episode.” I call it a breather because next chapter is a Hibiki-centric chapter and he’s… not as cheerful as Riley.
> 
> Also, why did I set this in the past instead of just doing it in the present and explaining why Rudy and Nina weren’t even mentioned in the first chapter? Because again, I’m weird.


	3. Hibiki Does Not Like Being Special

One night when Hibiki was four years old, he became curious about the faces in the walls. They never spoke, they never blinked, never spoke, always had the same expression, and never reacted when Mama or Papa would stick wires into their eyes and mouth. He wondered if he could get them to speak. So, when Mama was was washing dishes and Papa was upstairs, he sat in front of one of them and waved. When that didn’t work, he let out a drawn out hello. When that didn’t work, he poked it in the eye. When he poked it in the eye, he felt and saw something travel up his arm as everything suddenly went dark. A quick look outside would’ve shown the lights in other houses turning off as well.

Mama picked him up and demanded to know what he did. Papa ran downstairs before Mama told him to get in the car. Hibiki curiously looked around the pitch black world as Mama’s headlights provided the only light. It wasn’t long before they arrived at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, where Hibiki was immediately told to say what he did to Grandpa. He did what he was told before being sent to play with Grandma and Grandpa’s dog. While he was playing, however, he managed to overhear a few things such as “hereditary” and “avoiding containment” but he didn’t give it much thought. It was only the way back home when Mama and Papa told him they’d be moving that Hibiki began flooding them with questions. They told him that they couldn’t afford to stay at their old home anymore because they needed a fresh new start after his accident. Despite his protests, Hibiki had said goodbye to his friends and moved to the next town within a week.

As Hibiki sat outside his new house while Mama and Papa unpacked, he noticed an ice cream truck pull up and a little girl around his age run up to it. Shortly afterwards, a man that Hibiki wasn’t entirely sure was the girl’s father or brother followed her. After the girl assumedly made her order, she noticed Hibiki, tugged on the man’s shirt, and pointed at him. The man sighed before nodding and the girl seemingly made another order. A few moments later, she was handed two ice cream cones before running over to Hibiki.

“Hi! My name is Riley! I saw you and decided to get you ice cream! Well, my big brother Ethan got you it because he has money! I don’t know if you like chocolate or vanilla so I got you both!” The girl, Riley, said as she handed him a chocolate-vanilla swirl. She was a chatterbox, he could tell that much. Regardless of how much she talked, he still took the ice cream and began licking away at it. Riley sat next to him as the man, Ethan, came over and began talking with Mama and Papa. Riley followed in her brother’s footsteps by making conversation with Hibiki.

“What’s your name?”

“Hibiki.”

“Why did you move here?”

“I had an accident.”

“Ew! You peed your pants!?”

“No!”

Hibiki learned that Riley didn’t have parents so she lived with her half brother. He was her half brother because they had the same mom but different dads. Her mom went to Heaven shortly after she was born and she had no idea where or who her dad was. Riley had two babysitters. One was an old woman named Gretel. The other was a boy. Riley didn’t know his name because he didn’t tell her. She once asked Ethan but he didn’t know what she was talking about. Hibiki concluded that Riley had an imaginary friend. 

After saying goodbye to Riley and attempting to get settled into his new house, Mama and Papa tried to explain to Hibiki why this was for the best. They wanted him to view this as a game, and gave him various reasons why their team was right and the others were wrong. 

“They’d kill you.”

“They’d lock you in a cage.”

“They’d put you on display.”

Hibiki didn’t sleep that night.

Two years passed. Hibiki had a better understanding of his powers and why he couldn’t just use them willy nilly. He was doing great in school. He had a few friends, but his best friend was without a doubt Riley. Overall, save for the electricity powers, Hibiki felt like a completely normal kid.

And then Riley went missing.

Ethan assumed she was sleepwalking and somehow got out of the house. But the fact that she not only got dressed, but remembered to put her raincoat and rain boots on? And take a flashlight? Hibiki had doubts.

Riley was gone for several days before Hibiki looked in the woods by himself. Riley often went through these woods to get to the park because… well, they lead to the park. So maybe she had gotten lost here. It was then that he noticed a dirt path. For some reason, he felt like that’s where Riley was. So, he followed the path. It was a long path, and the further he got, the more quiet things got. So quiet, in fact, that when he thought he heard footsteps behind him, he yelped and instinctively shot lightning at the source of the noise. Only to find that there was no one there. After double checking that there was in fact nobody nearby, Hibiki ran down the rest of the path, where he found a seemingly abandoned house. He opened the door and found a crying Riley on the other side, her stuffed monkey held tightly in one arm while she hugged Hibiki with the other. She had claimed her imaginary friend lead her to the house but didn’t explain why. Hibiki didn’t know what to think.

Either way, this event lead Hibiki to make a superhero persona of himself for awhile. A version of himself that could prevent children like Riley from getting in trouble again. He even made two sidekicks for himself called Pyro and Cryo. It was nothing more than a silly phase where he just doodled his adventures on homework. Mama and Papa thought it was cute. Riley thought it was awesome. Hibiki preferred to think of them as nothing more than drawings.

For the next ten years, nothing major happened. Hibiki limited his powers to little things that nobody would notice like charging his phone. As he got older, his parents asked him to consider following in their footsteps, as it was _his_ rights they were fighting for, after all. Even so, he wanted to focus on living a normal life, and that would just get in the way. Sure, he knew there were people like him, and that he was basically living in luxury compared to them, but he felt that if he tried to help them, he’d just end up like them. 

But then it turned out he knew one of them personally. 

He thought it was a miracle when Riley was unharmed after getting hit by a car. Then her arm broke, seemingly out of nowhere a month later. Ethan said it was because she fell in the shower, but once again, Hibiki had doubts. Something just didn’t feel right. He thought back. Had something like this happened before?

Let’s see… when walking Riley back from that house she was stuck in, she started complaining that her knee hurt, to which her rolled up her pant leg to discover that she had scraped her knee. It looked fresh even though she had done nothing to hurt herself. When they were in middle school, Riley had gotten sick long after a sickness that had practically spread through the school like wildfire had passed. Just last year, Riley showed up to school with a black eye three days after one of her classmates accidentally elbowed her in the eye. And that was just the tip of the iceberg of things that now seemed unusual.

As he sits next to Riley, she asks if her cast is the reason he keeps staring at her. He answers “kind of”, and adds that he just finds her nice to look at. She laughs and kisses him on the cheek, to which she experienced a minor shock a few minutes later.

Maybe his parents had a point.


	4. The (kind of) Halloween Special

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The SCP making an appearance here is SCP-3540. I just thought it’d be fun to include in a chapter. Also, fun fact before we begin: Riley has sectoral heterochromia, meaning a part of the iris in one of her eyes is a different color, as opposed to having two entirely different colored eyes. Just saying this so a bit in this chapter makes more sense.

At the end of September, Gretel passed away. At the start of October, Halloween decorations were put up around her house.

“Do you think it’s her ghost?” Riley asked as she and Hibiki walked to school, the autumn leaves crunching beneath their feet.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts.” Hibiki’s tone was so blunt that Riley almost flinched. She playfully punched his arm.

“Lighten up.”

“Get serious.”

“I am! I brought it up to Ethan a few days ago and he nearly flipped out.” Hibiki stopped dead in his tracks, the sound of crunching leaves disappearing in an instant.

“Really?” Hibiki asked. Riley hesitated for a moment before she slowly nodded her head. She usually wasn’t nervous around her boyfriend, but this was a rare exception. And she had no idea why.

“…Yeah. Why?” Riley clutched the straps of her backpack harder than she had clutched anything in her whole life.

“That’s really uncharacteristic for Ethan. Don’t you think?” Hibiki asked.

“Now that I think about it…” Ethan usually wasn’t one to freak out so easily. When he did, it was usually when he thought harm was coming to Riley. Not when she talked about a dead woman’s house being decorated for Halloween. If something was enough to get Ethan even a little bit shaken up, it had to be serious, right? 

“Okay. This just got weirder than it already was.” Said Hibiki. Just then, a lightbulb went off in Riley’s head.

“Let’s investigate!”

“What?”

“You know! We investigate the haunted house!”

“This isn’t an episode of Scooby-Doo, Riley.”

“Not with that attitude.”

“Fine. We’ll form a plan later.”

“Why later!?”

“School.”

“Oh right.”

With that, the two ran off so that they wouldn’t be late.

That evening, Riley sat alone at the kitchen table. Ethan had left her enough money to order a pizza, so obviously, that was her dinner. She guessed he was in such a rush that he didn’t leave her a random recipe that their mom taught him when he was younger.

“I wonder what cooking with Mom was like…” Riley sighed and bit into her second slice of pizza. She looked at the pictures on the wall, where a picture of a child version of Ethan was sitting with a woman who shared his dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Save for the splotch of brown in the lower part of her left eye, Riley looked practically nothing like her mother and brother. She most likely looked like her father but it’s not like she had any way of knowing.

Riley was snapped out of whatever trance she was in when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly ran to the door, not caring that her pizza slice fell to the floor in the process, and opened it to reveal Hibiki with two sets of binoculars.

“I had to buy these for the sole purpose of this investigation so this place better be haunted.” Hibiki practically shoved a pair into her hands before heading off in the direction of Gretel’s house, to which Riley hastily followed. Before running back to lock the door and then continuing to follow Hibiki.

Upon arrival, which didn’t take long as Gretel only lived down the street, the couple looked around to see if there was anyone who could see them. 

“I think we’re good. I only see the pizza guy and what’s he gonna do? Tell the manager?” Riley observed. 

“Okay. You go up in that tree and observe the second floor while I stay here and observe the first floor.” Hibiki pointed at a nearby tree. Riley nodded before climbing up, earning a stare from the aforementioned pizza guy, and settling onto one of the larger branches. 

“You see anything?” Riley asked as she held the binoculars up to her face.

“No. You?” Asked Hibiki.

“Nope. Can I ask you a question?”

“What?”

“Why aren’t we actually going in the house?”

“Because if it’s actually haunted, I don’t want you to get possessed or something.” 

“Aww, you’re so swee-I SEE SOMETHING!” Riley got so excited upon seeing one of the lights turn on, that she nearly fell off the branch.

“Really!? Where!?” Hibiki asked as he began trying to climb up as well.

“Um… there are these people in the bedroom… wearing what appear to be black robes… can’t see any faces… it looks like they’re… doing laundry? Darn it, they’re probably just relatives of hers.” Riley sighed and jumped down, being just below the point where jumping would result in her legs being injured. Not that the results would appear immediately anyways. Hibiki laughed and stopped climbing, allowing himself to fall onto his back.

“Told you it wasn’t haunted.” Hibiki said. Riley pouted and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m stupid. Can we go now?” Riley asked. Hibiki got up and kissed her on the forehead.

“You’re not stupid. You’re just very, very, naive.” Hibiki said as Riley seemed to shut down for a few seconds. They had been together for a few months at this point, but she still got caught off guard whenever he kissed her. Upon getting over the shock, she returned the gesture of affection by kissing him on the cheek.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go home.” Riley said.

“We should at least apologize for spying.” Hibiki said. Riley nodded.

“Right.” Riley said. With that, the two crossed the street and a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors determined that Riley would be the one to deliver the apology. She sighed and went up to the door. However, right before she could knock, she heard a car come to a screeching halt and the car’s door opening.

“RILEY!”

Riley quickly turned around to see Ethan had already practically shoved Hibiki into his car before quickly doing the same to her as well. After driving them home, which again didn’t take long, Riley and Ethan silently stood outside their front door.

“…I’m sorry.” Riley said as she looked down with her hands behind her back as though she were a child who had just been caught in a lie. Ethan sighed.

“I expect better from you. Hibiki too, but that’s for his parents to deal with. You spy on a stranger and then try to go in said stranger’s house? You could get in trouble for a variety of reasons! You’re lucky I showed up before anything happened!” Ethan said as he unlocked the door. The two siblings stepped inside and not only saw pizza all over the floor, but Rudy and Nina, Riley’s pet capybaras from two chapters ago, having made a mess due to forgetting where their designated bathroom was.

“I can explain.”

“Don’t, you’re grounded.”

At the end of October, Riley and Hibiki spent Halloween celebrating the fact that they were no longer confined to their rooms. At the start of November, Hibiki and the rest of the neighborhood completely forgot the whole thing. After several days, Riley forgot as well.


	5. Love Is A Special Feeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I’m not dead. Just lazy.

Ethan Williams was a man with several regrets.

His first regret was growing more and more distant from his mother as he grew up. His second regret was when that began to repeat with his sister. 

“Hey.” Ethan said as Riley sat down at the table. 

“Hey.” Riley repeated. Silence reigned for a few moments before Ethan cleared his throat.

“So… I noticed one of the actresses in that one movie that just came out kind of looks like you… isn’t that weird?” Ethan asked.

“Mhm.” Riley bit into her toast as her eyes were locked on her phone. Ethan pursed his lips before making a popping sound with his mouth. 

“Maybe… we could go see it? I’m free today.” Ethan said. This is what finally caused Riley to look up.

“Oh! Um, sorry, but I’m already seeing it with Hibiki. That’s kind of what we’re texting about.” Riley said as she held up her phone, allowing Ethan to see the conversation between her and Hibiki.

“I… I’ll chaperone!” Ethan yelled.

“…What?” Riley asked. 

“Um… you’ve been getting kind of careless nowadays. You need someone to keep you out of trouble.” Ethan said. Riley groaned before slamming her head into the table.

“Yep. This is the most embarrassing day of my life.” Riley said as she got up and began to walk to her room like a zombie.

“Brush your teeth.” Ethan said. Riley looked like she was about to yell at him before stomping into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

That evening, it was easy to tell Riley was still grumpy as she sat next to Hibiki in the back of Ethan’s car. Turning on the radio only seemed to add an extra layer of awkwardness to the situation. It wasn’t until they were more than halfway to their destination that Ethan cleared his throat.

“Look on the bright side! At least you don’t have to worry about your legs being sore during the movie!” Ethan said.

“Maybe you should get her a bike or something if you’re apparently worried about her walking everywhere.” Hibiki did nothing to hide the fact that he felt just as awkward as the two siblings. For some reason, this suggestion caused Ethan to become a lot more tense.

“ _Absolutely_ _not!_ ” Ethan yelled, making both Riley and Hibiki flinch. They looked at each other and all Riley could do was shrug before looking back at her brother.

“…Anyways, my legs don’t get sore until after I get h-“ Riley was cut off by Hibiki practically slamming his hand over her mouth.

“On second thought, you make a good point. Things are perfectly fine the way they are.” Hibiki said over Riley’s muffled protests. Ethan raised an eyebrow but quickly dismissed a thought that entered his mind. No. If there was anything weird about Riley he would’ve noticed it before anyone else. He was not just her brother, he was the one who raised her. He knew her better than anyone. He had to.

“ETHAN! ETHAN! **STOP!** ” Riley’s voice screaming at him quickly snapped him out of the train of thought he was on and he barely managed to stop the car in time, avoiding hitting a stray cat that quickly ran off. 

“…You two okay?” Ethan asked after all three of them had a moment to catch their breath.

“I’m good.” Riley said as Hibiki nodded. Ethan sighed and watched as Riley and Hibiki briefly debated over whether they still wanted to see the movie. After they agreed that they indeed both still want to go, they gestured for Ethan to keep driving, to which he complied. 

This better be a damn good movie.

And needless to say, it was… adequate.

Maybe it was because he was outside the target demographic. Maybe it was because he was never a huge fan of the genre. Regardless of what it was, Ethan didn’t really find anything too interesting about the film. Riley and Hibiki seemed to like it though, and he didn’t feel like soiling the mood more than he already has, so he kept his mouth shut.

“Okay, now that I know your favorite part, which part was your least favorite?” Riley asked. Hibiki went silent for a moment before snapping his fingers.

“Probably the ending. Too depressing.” Hibiki said. Riley pouted and flicked him on the forehead.

“I liked the ending. It was realistic. Well, realistic given the scenario.” Riley said as Hibiki rubbed the side of his head.

“Okay, okay. Agree to disagree.” Hibiki said. Riley smiled and turned towards her brother.

“Oh yeah! Ethan! I have to admit, it was rather nice to have y… ow…” Riley suddenly clutched her head as her once happy expression quickly disappeared.

“Are you alright?” Ethan asked as Hibiki put a hand on her shoulder and looked around for a place where she could sit down.

“Y-Yeah… it’s just… my head hurts…” It was when Riley tightened her grip on her hair as tears formed in her eyes and her breathing became heavier that Ethan quickly grabbed her free arm and began dragging her out of the movie theater, completely ignoring Hibiki’s protests. Upon reaching his car, Ethan forcibly lowered Riley’s hand and pushed back her hair, revealing a sizable bruise on her forehead.

“How did this happen!?” Ethan demanded as Hibiki caught up to them.

“I-I don’t know… I mean, I hit my head in the car earlier, but I didn’t even feel anything, I swear!” Riley responded as she wiped her tears away with her sleeve. 

After that, the silence during the ride home was even more suffocating. Ethan didn’t even try to make conversation this time. Upon arriving home, Riley gave Hibiki a hug before going inside. After that, Ethan and Hibiki just stared at each other, both wanting to say something but having no idea how to say it.

“Listen, if you don’t tell anyone-“

“Why are you worried about me telling anyone?”

“…I could ask you the same thing.”

Hibiki immediately muttered something along the lines of telling Ethan to have a good night and began walking towards his house, only for Ethan to grab the back of his shirt and spin him around. 

“Tell me. Why are you worried about me telling anyone?” Ethan asked as he held the younger male in place by firmly holding onto his shoulders. 

“We’re talking about the same thing here, right? About… Riley?” Hibiki asked. It took a few moments, but Ethan nodded.

“Yes. About Riley.” Ethan replied. Hibiki sighed.

“I don’t think you’d believe me if I said why.” Was all Hibiki said. 

“Well, I’m not even sure I can tell you my reason.” Ethan said. It was then that both of them appeared to realize something.

“Hibiki… are you…?” Ethan didn’t want to finish his sentence.

“Tell me what you are first.” It wasn’t obvious, but Ethan could tell the boy was nervous. 

“I’m not going to hurt you or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Ethan tried to assure Hibiki. This only made him more uncomfortable, as evident by the fact that he was now looking for something that could serve as a distraction. 

“That’s a nice thought. But I really have to go.” Hibiki insisted. Ethan began to grow frustrated, starting to shake Hibiki a bit.

“Listen to me! I need you to be completely honest, okay!? I promise nothing bad will happen!” Ethan shouted. Hibiki grabbed both of Ethan’s wrists.

“ _LET_ _GO_ _OF_ _ME_!” As soon as those words left Hibiki’s mouth, Ethan felt a huge shock go through his body, causing him to fall to the ground. Hibiki, now on the verge of panicking, quickly let out a storm of apologies upon seeing that Ethan wasn’t seriously injured. Upon taking in what just happened, Ethan only had one question.

“Does Riley know?”

“I don’t even think Riley knows that she has… I don’t want to say she has something wrong with her. But no! She doesn’t know! Because for most of my life, I was told that if anyone found out, I’d be killed or locked in a box!” Hibiki began running his fingers through his hair. Ethan quickly stood up and, more gently this time, put both of his hands on Hibiki’s shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay, calm down. Like I said, I’m not going to hurt you. Do you really promise not to tell anyone? About Riley, I mean?” Ethan asked.

“If we’re being honest, I knew since she broke her arm.” Hibiki said. Ethan went silent. Well, that explains why he covered her mouth earlier. 

“Okay. Well, if you continue to keep it a secret, I’ll completely ignore what you just did. Just this once though.” Ethan offered. 

“And… Riley?” Hibiki asked. Ethan gave him a sad smile.

“She’s the only family I have. I think that’s why I’ve been in denial for so long.” Ethan said.

They gave each other one last nod, and went their separate ways.

Ethan knocked on Riley’s door before entering her room. She was on her bed with an ice pack over her head. Rudy and Nina were asleep on the floor next to her bed.

“Hey. You okay?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah. My head just hurts.” Riley said. 

“Alright. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.” Ethan said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Okay.” Riley muttered. Ethan was about to leave, but quickly walked over to Riley’s bedside, being careful not to step on the two capybaras in the process, and gave her a kiss on the side of her head that wasn’t covered by the ice pack that was starting to melt.

“I love you.” Ethan said as he brushed some of Riley’s hair out of her face.

“Brush your teeth.” Riley said while resisting the urge to laugh. Ethan smiled, tugged on her cheek to get the last laugh, and left the room. He went to the living room, laid down on the couch, and turned on a movie he’d actually enjoy.

Ethan Williams was a man with several regrets.

His newest one was trying to strengthen his bond with his sister.


End file.
